power in thanking, praising, expecting…

look at the effect of praise.  2 chronicles 20.22 (tlb), at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the LORD caused the armies of ammon and moab and mount seir to begin fighting among themselves.  they destroyed each other. 

there is power in thanking.  there is power in praising.  there is power in expecting.  GOD confused the enemy and they started fighting each other and killing themselves.  they turned on each other and destroyed themselves while the israelites looked on.  they were thanking GOD in advance.

here’s the question: you know that insurmountable problem in your life?  the one that the odds are stacked against you?  when are you going to start thanking GOD for taking care of it?  after it’s all solved?  that’s gratitude.  how about now? while you’re in the problem, while you see it coming at you, thanking GOD now.  that is faith.  thanking GOD in advance.

look at the results.  verses 25 & 26 (tlb)), so jehoshaphat and his men went off to carry off the plunder and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and articles of value – much more than they could carry away.  [there were so many spoils of war they couldn’t carry it away.  GOD wants to bless your life so much more than you can even handle] there was so much plunder that it took them three days to collect it.  and on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of beracah where they praised the LORD and this is why it’s called the valley of beracah to this day. 

“beracah” is the hebrew word for praise and this is where GOD wants you to live.  in the valley of blessing.  it means blessing and praise.  GOD wants to bless your life.  and HE wants you to live in that valley of blessing, in that valley of praise. 

how do you get there?  thanking GOD in advance.

verses 29-30 (nlt), when the surrounding kingdoms heard that the LORD himself had fought against the enemies of israel, the fear of GOD came over them.  so jehoshaphat’s kingdom was at peace, for GOD had given him rest on every side. 

wouldn’t you like that to be true in your life?  living in rest and have peace on every side – the family side, the career side, the financial side, the social side, the physical side, the sexual side – you have peace on every side? 

when you allow GOD to solve your problems, it also becomes a testimony to unbelievers and the world takes notice when the CHRISTian lives by faith.  and GOD loves to demonstrate HIS power in those who will just believe HIM and expect HIM to work in their lives.

are you facing a difficult circumstance this week?  you feel like the odds are against you?  you think that problem is overwhelming?  what do you do?  you turn to GOD.  JEHOVAH NISSI, the GOD who defends you.

just a thought from the front porch…

you can do it…

if you want to receive the best from people and bring out the best in people, expect the best from them.

1 corinthians 13.7 (lb), if you love someone … you will always believe in him, always expect the best of him.

many times we don’t realize how as dads or moms we set our children up for either success or failure by our expectations of them. we do this as employers, as supervisors. your expectations have a profound influence on others because people tend to perform at the level they’re expected to perform.

you’ve heard this before. in 1968 there was a harvard psychologist named robert rosenthal. he published a study, which is now very famous called “the pygmalion in the classroom effect.” it studied the impact of teachers’ expectations on students in the classroom.

he did an experiment. he took a group of kindergartners through fifth grade students and gave them all a learning test. the next fall their new teachers were casually given the names of four, five, six high achievers. these people were given that title supposedly based on the test they’d had the previous year. the only problem was, what they didn’t know was that the test was rigged.

those children who had been labeled “high achievers” were simply chosen at random. there was no basis for that labeling. at the end of the year, the students were retested and the amazing results were the students whom the teachers thought had the most potential – they just thought they did – had actually outscored everybody else and had gained as many as 15 to 27 iq points in one year.

the teachers described these children that they thought were high achievers as happier, most curious, more affectionate than average and having a better chance of achieving later in life. but the only change during that year was the attitude of the teachers because they had been led to expect more of certain students the students came to expect more of themselves. the teachers communicated their positive expectations in terms of tone of voice, facial expression, even touch and posture. karl menninger concluded that attitudes are more important than facts.

what that says is if you want to build confident kids, confidence is more caught than it is taught. it’s how you believe in people, how you treat people. whatever you want people to be, treat them like you want them to become. if you are a supervisor you ought to learn that when you take pride in other people’s work, then they do too. every great leader knows the power of positive expectation. margaret my wife was awesome at this and those of you who have worked for her would say amen to that. i know you would.

just a thought from the front porch…